What is the Attendant's View?

This collection of cartoons and blog are for the thousands of people who have the job of gallery assistant, museum attendant, front of house staff, heritage volunteer... and for anyone who may have visited art galleries, museums, places of historical interest. 

It began as a way to vent spleen and share highlights. When trapped in an art gallery or museum after a stressful encounter, it is a kind of therapy. The art isn’t always high quality as many cartoons are drawn in whatever medium is to hand, on a folded scrap of paper, during a five minute break. You'll also find blog posts among the cartoons, as I discover things which I feel are amusing, frustrating, interesting or worth getting involved in.

You're making it up!

Some of these may surprise you, but the best way to summarise is that people are great - whereas the general public, colleagues (and sometimes we ourselves) can be right idiots. We’ll touch things we shouldn't, we’ll assume that sign isn't for Me, only for Stupid People, we'll make technical and managerial decisions which omit common sense.

All of what you find here are genuine events and observations, from a range of people working in the heritage sector. All of this happened to myself, to current or ex-colleagues, and I also get some submissions where strangers share their own experiences with me. 

A few cartoons have artistic licence, such as taking a much longer conversation and condensing it, or moving the location of an event. This is only ever done to protect the innocent (or hide the guilty!) or if the crux of the moment is more vital than the surrounding details. 

Hmm, I think I like it...

Join Attendant's View on Facebook  and Twitter (I confess, the Tumblr is sort of abandoned) and you'll know when new things go online, and get treated to links to other things as well. I don't share the exact same content across all platforms, so you'll find some different things on different pages!

If you have feedback or perhaps a tale of your own to share, then submit a comment using the comments box at the bottom of this page. You never know, your experiences may turn up here as a cartoon!.
 
If you really like all this and want a print of a cartoon or even special drawing, as a gift or to liven up the staff room, please do get in touch for a sensibly priced commission image. 

About the artist.

Having gained a degree in Archaeology and History I went forth into the wide world and after a false start at a supermarket, made it into the fabled land of ‘the heritage sector’. Having now done a couple of jobs in that area, my experience has been varied. Cleaning loos, mopping up sick, providing impromptu art sessions for children with awkward teachers, painting walls, chasing children, risking life and limb in badly stacked archives, giving guided tours in caves, shouting at French students, calming down drunks, working late when printers refuse to produce interpretive labels…Gallery Attendant is not always a nice warm job, indoors, with no heavy lifting.

Even now that I am allegedly responsible enough to be a mainly back of house manager, the bit about cleaning sick up still features when necessary. 

It is a very rewarding job in many ways. Big smiles from lost tourists given advice, the explorative feeling opening an archive box, children coming back to find you the next time they visit, the satisfaction of hands on work completed, letters of thanks with badly drawn pictures after school visits. 

Why the blog? Perhaps you’re glad to know that wherever you are, however dumbstruck you may be, people behave like this everywhere. Perhaps you're considering a job in the sector and this provides an your insight tutors can’t. Perhaps you just like the idea of it. Whatever the reason you’re here, enjoy it!
All text and images are produced by and copyright of the artist, holder of the domain name of attendantsview.com
Please contact for permission to use images, which will probably be gladly given, but it's only polite to ask first.